Athletic supporter



Nov, 23, 1948- c. J. FLAHERTY 2,454,507

ATHLETIC SUPPORTER' v I Filed Sept. 14, 1944 Sheets-Sheet 1 awn. JI'LAHERTY lNVENTOR Nov. 23, 1948. c. J.- FLAHERTY ATHLETIC SUPPORTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 14, 1944 FI G.4:

INVENTOR Patented Nov. 23, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ATHLETIC SUPPORTER Charles J. Fl-aherty, New York, N. Y.

Application Septemberld, 1944, Serial No. 554,001

4 Claims. 1

My invention relates to athletic supports and has particular reference to athletic supporters or jock strapsinade of elastic webbing.

My invention has forits object to provide an athletic supporter having a waistband, a. pouch and understraps, all parts of the combination being made of an elastic webbing made of yarn and comprising rubber strands, so that a maximum of comfort can be secured for a wearer of such a supporter.

Ordinary supporters are usually made of an endless piece of webbing, cut to size, so that the ends of the rubber strands are also cut. It has been found that when such webbing is joined together into a belt or waistband, as by stitching or sewing the ends together, the ends of the rubber strands will have a tendency gradually to creep away from the ends, until they move so far away from the ends that they can no longer impart any resiliency to the webbing. To avoid such a disadvantage of. ordinary webbed bands, I provide a waistband made of individual pieces of web"- bing, rubber strands extending lengthwise in the webbing: and being turned around at the ends in the form of selvage, the rubber bands forming thereby a continuous zigzag pattern, The ends of the webbing are stitched together in a suitable manner, preferably by a flat lock, and, since the ends of the rubber strands-form loops at the ends, the rubber bands cannot creep away from the stitched ends as in ordinary webbing, so that my waistband retains its structure and complete elasti'city even after a prolonged period of service. To increase the resiliency of thewaistband, I make the same by a knitting processiso that the threads forming the webbing are interlocked together in a plurality of round loops, possessing resiliency, and forming an elastic webbing which can readily stretch in different directions to follow the curvature of the wearers body, and providing a mesh-like fabric which allows for a free air circulation.

Another object of my invention is to provide. a pouch or bag made of an elastic knitted material having rubber threads extending lengthwise through the pouch. To avoid creeping of the free ends of the rubber strands in the pouch, which creeping usually takes place in pouches made of elastic webbing cut from a long. piece, I prepare the webbing for the pouch as an. individually knitted piece, with the rubber strands at the end portions of the webbin being turned around, forming loops which effectively prevent the rubber strands from creeping inside the fabric.

Still another object of my invention is to-provide understraps for the pouch, made of elastic 2 flattened tubular webbing, knitted with rubber strands covered with fine yarn. Such tubular straps are very resilient, soft and elastic, and readily follow the curvature of the wearers body, thereby preventing any uncomfortable lock pressure or chafiing of the skin.

My invention is more fully described in the accompanying specification and drawings which:

Fig. 1 isv a perspective view of my athletic supporter;

Fig. 2 is a fractional side view of the same in a folded. position;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the supporter;

Fig. i is a viewof a piece of elastic webbing from which the pouch of the supporter ismade;

Fig. 5 is a fractional detail view of the end portion of the webbing, showing the selvage. formed of rubber strands;

Fig. 6- is a sectional view of the same;

Fig, 7 is an end View of an elastic knitted tubing used for understraps;

Fig. 8 is a detail enlarged View of the tubular webbing.

My athletic supporter comprises a waistband in the form of a continuous belt made of an elastic webbing. I prefer to make the waistband of two pieces I and 2. joined at the ends by a flatlock stitch 3; Each piece of webbing is knitted as a unit, the elasticity or resiliency being pr0- vided by rubber strands 4, extending in pairs, spaced from each other. To avoid creeping of the rubber strands from the ends towards the middle of the webbing, which effect usually takes place when the rubber strands are cut at the ends of the webbing, I provide long rubber strands, turned at the ends so as to form loops 5' so that the rubber strands extend in a zig-zag shape through the webbing. The looped end portions constitute a selvage of the bands, which are therefore prepared without cutting the rubber bands or the knitting which holds the bands together. The webbing is made by starting at; one longitudinal edge and turning the rubber strands at the ends; the selvage being thereby formed at the ends. The longitudinal edges are reinforced by added rubber strands which are then coveredby edge stitches forming reinforced rounded edges 6. The rubber strands are further protected by being covered with a winding made of fine yarn. The waistband, made according to my method, readily stretches over the curvature of the wearers body without producing any unpleasant local pressure and without puckering or folding, as often takes place with ordinary webbing, such puckering causin undue wear of the fabric in addition. to the. discomfort to the wearer.

Webbing does not require any sizing or starching as it is usually necessary with ordinary woven (not knitted) fabrics. Moreover, being prepared entirely by knitting, the webbing is highly porous and permits free air circulation for the body of the wearer.

My webbing is made on a flat knitting machine, every second course having two rubber strands covered with a winding of fine yarn, and the intermediate courses between the rubber courses being constituted by a knitting of cotton or rayon yarn, thereby obtaining the greatest possible flexibility and elasticity.

A similar webbing is used for a pouch 6' attached to the lower front edge of the waistband. The pouch webbing as shown in Fig, 4 consists of a fiat piece having a straight upper edge l and a recessed lower edge II with two convex portions converging inwardly at a sharp angle. The webbing is prepared as a single piece by knitting with rubber strands 4 extending lengthwise in spaced pairs, similarly to the construction of the waistband webbing. The rubber strands are turned or looped at the ends forming a, selvage along the end edges of the webbing, so that the entire piece is made without cutting the material or the rubber strands. The convex portions II are stitched together to form a pouch, the stitch being covered by a fiat piece l2 of a knitted tubular webbing, the upper edge of the pouch 6 being attached to the waistband by stitching, the stitching being covered by a piece of tape I3. Understraps M are attached to the lower end of the pouch at I 5, the other ends of the understraps being attached to the waistband at It. The understraps are made in the form of a tubular knitted flat webbing with longitudinally extending rubber strands l1, each strand being protected by a layer of winding made of a fine yarn. The tubular webbing has an advantage in that it eliminates sharp edges and combines the necessary strength with elasticity and comfort for the wearer.

It will be understood that various features and principles of each of the embodiments of the invention above described or referred to may be utilized or substituted in the other embodiments.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to certain particular preferred examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and further modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is intended therefore in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An athletic supporter comprising a waistband made of elastic knitted webbing having a single elastic element constituted by a plurality of rubber strands extending lengthwise at spaced intervals in the webbing, the spaces between the strands being filled with an elastic knitting fully enclosing the strands, the rubber strands being turned around at the ends of the webbing in a continuous zig-zag pattern, the ends of the webbing being stitched together edgewise by a, fiat- '1ock stitching; and a pouch made of an elastic knitted material attached to the lower edge of the waistband by a stitching.

2. An athletic supporter comprising a waistband made of elastic knitted webbing having a single elastic element constituted by a plurality of rubber strands; and a poucnmade of elastic knitted webbing having a single elastic element constituted by a. plurality of rubber strands extending longitudinally of the webbing at spaced intervals, spaces between the rubber strands being filled with elastic knitting fully enclosing the strands, the rubber strands at the ends of the webbing being turned around to form a continuous zig-zag pattern, the strands in the pouch being of different lengths in accordance with the contour of the webbing forming sides of the pouch, the lower portion of the pouch webbing having an inwardly extending recess, the edges of the pouch at the recess being stitched together.

3. An athletic supporter comprising a waistband made of a pair of strips of elastic knitted webbing each strip having a single elastic element constituted by a plurality of rubber strands; a pouch made of elastic knitted webbing having pairs of rubber strands extending longitudinally of the webbing at spaced intervals, spaces between the rubber strands being filled with stretchable knitting, the rubber strands at the ends of the webbing being turned around to form a continuous zig-zag pattern, the lower portion of the pouch webbing having an inwardly extending recess, the edges of the pouch at the recess being stitched together and covered with a tubular strap, and means for connecting the upper and lower portions of the pouch to the waistband.

4. An athletic supporter comprising a waistband made up of a pair of individual pieces of elastic knitted webbing, each of said pieces having a single elastic element constituted by a plurality of pairs of abutting rubber strands, the rubber strands being covered with spirally wound thread, the ends of the individual pieces of webbing being stitched together to form a continuous waistband; the rubber strands being turned around at the ends of the webbing in pairs in a continuous zigzag pattern, and a pouch made of an elastic webbing attached to the lower edge of the waistband, said pouch being made of a single piece of elastic knitted webbing having a single elastic element constituted by a plurality of pairs of abutting rubber strands extending longitudinally of the webbing at spaced intervals, spaces between the rubber strands being filled with elastic knitting, the rubber strands at the ends of the webbing being turned around to form a continuous zig-zag pattern, the lower portion of the pouch webbing having an inwardly extending recess, the edges of the pouch at the recess being stitched together and covered with a tubular strap.

' CHARLES J. FLAHERTY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 550,093 Bennett Nov. 19, 1895 616,524 Cartledge Dec. 27, 1898 963,864 Carter July 12, 1910 1,119,944 Fritsch Dec. 8, 1914 1,229,850 Zetosch June 12, 1917 1,428,465 Willmott Sept. 5, 1922 1,840,621 Dwyer Jan. 12, 1932 2,046,535 Smith July '7, 1936 2,088,302 McKeever July 27, 1937 2,135,027 Billing Nov. 1, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 705,541 Germany May 2, 1941 

